Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:6 "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God."

The church in Philippi was struggling with unity amongst themselves and Paul writes to them to remind them of the example for perfect Christian living: Jesus Christ. We are to take on the attitudes of Christ and have His mind in all things. We are called to renew our minds by focusing on Christ and thus reap the rewards of joy and unity. After the exhortation to the Christian to be Christ-minded Paul now goes on and tells us what the mind of Christ is. He starts by telling his audience that Christ was God and did not have to claim or attain that nature for He was God from the beginning.
We can see two very important points here. First, we understand that Jesus is and was God. Jesus Himself tells us in John 10:30 "I and the Father are one." His pre-man nature, or form, was that of God. He had no beginning. The Greek word for form "morphe" speaks of the essence or nature of something. The Greek word for being "huparcho" is a present participle which talks of a continuous action. Jesus was God and continued to be God. Even as a man, He still had the nature of God.
Second, the text tells us that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. There are two important statements made here: one, Jesus did not have to claim to be God or make Himself God - He was God, and two, He did not consider His equality with God as something selfish to hold on to. The first statement contrasts Christ with beings that have tried to attain positions that are not theirs naturally. Lucifer, for example, tried to elevate himself to be equal with God. Adam, in the garden, wanted to become like Gods, knowing good and evil. The second statement shows us the attitude of Christ in becoming a man. In the case of Lucifer and Adam, their actions were motivated by selfishness, whereas Christ's actions were always motivated by selflessness. He only thought about us when He embarked on the greatest adventure ever recorded and ultimately laid down His life for us. Lucifer stated "I will exalt myself," but Christ said "Thy will be done."
As people we may have positions, privileges or abilities that are results of our natural talents. Paul reminds us of the example that Jesus gave us to not dwell on who we are, but rather whom we can serve. We are not to focus on how great we are, but how we can help someone else to become greater. Jesus states that "the first shall be last; and the last first" (Mat 19:30). Jesus gave up His position, His privileges, His abilities, even His life in order for us to come to a saving knowledge of God. We, too, need to lay down all that we are and help others to get to know Christ and learn to walk with Him. It's not about us, it's about God.

Application
In order to humble myself and not focus on the my rights and privileges, today, I will continue to do kitchen duty.